


Compass Rose

by gardnerhill



Series: 221b Ficlets by Gardnerhill [56]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Angst, Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Prompt Fic, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 12:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15461265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: Some treasures are worth risking the gibbet.





	Compass Rose

The treasure's location. A vast terrain, riddled with trenches and deadly fields, spotted here and there with luckless farmhouses.

A crew assembled. A crew of two.

Maps, maps, maps. Lay them out all over the dining table, cross-correlate, travel that land in spirit, infer, deduce before setting sail for the land in truth. No X here.

Tools. A few connections in the War Office, fluency in French, a skill for blending in, and an obscenely-large bank account which should prove invaluable for bribery.

Arms. One old pistol and a singlestick.

A pirate in truth on this treasure hunt. What he planned to do was a firing-squad offence if he was caught, and the same awaited the elder sibling who'd sent him these charters. (He could never repay Mycroft for this – the older man merely waved it away: "I have seen decades of my work transformed into poison gas and bodies piled like cordwood. It is past time I tried my hand at lawlessness, Sherlock. Perhaps if I can help retrieve one soul I will have my sentence in Purgatory reduced by a few minutes.")

The treasure itself. Lost, presumed dead, according to the filthy yellow telegram stabbed into the Sussex mantel with a jack-knife.

The old man set forth to commit treason. No other choice.

_I am lost without my Boswell._

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2018 July Watson's Woes Promptfest prompt #27, **Treasure Island.** A character has lost something they value.


End file.
